Another day at the beach

This morning, we headed to the closest beach.  It is rather small and quiet in comparison with some of the more famous beaches on the island. but still a lovely place to hang out.

The beach looks completely different when viewed from the north and south ends.

Looking south

Looking north

On the north end, I walked around many lava tide pools.  And I encountered three species of sea urchins and a few sandpipers on the rocks.

In April, this ruddy turnstone will migrate to the Arctic to breed.

At the south end of the beach, free divers were heading out to spearfish.  They knew the safest place to get in the water and spent over an hour fishing.  

Freediving requires skill, very long fins, and a spear gun to fish

There are several nice trees high on the beach, providing shade as well as sites to hang a hammock.

This guy slept the whole time we were on the beach.  Perhaps he had a rough Valentine's Day.

Happy Valentine's Day

 There are hearts everywhere.  You just have to look to find them.

A view from my beach walk

On a gray morning, I went walking to nearby beaches.  Not many people were out, but I found myself in the company of a sea turtle.  It was swimming in an old, brackish-water fishpond, behind a heiau (a Hawaiian temple/sacred site) that is part of the old Kahalu'u historical site.

The heiau is guarded by a pair of carved, wooden tiki statues.

Fish pond in foreground, heiau on left side, Pacific in background

Aloha for another day!

Cultural heritage

Squeezed between lush golf courses and their affiliated, adjacent gated communities, bits and pieces of Hawaiian cultural history can be found.  Often, the preservation of historical lands/structures is part of the cost of building these sprawling developments.

Just north of Kona, along the seaward side of one golf course, the ruins of old, stone-walled donkey corals have been saved and highlighted.  Prior to modern roads and transportation in Hawaii, donkeys were an essential tool to ferry goods from the sea to the hills above along the Ala Mauka Makai (from the mountains to the sea) route.

Another aspect of Hawaii's history is featured at the nearby canoe garden.  All the plants grown in the garden were originally brought to Hawaii by Polynesians in canoes, a long time ago.  Many were food plants, others were used for dye or fiber.

A replica shelter of the canoe era has been built at the garden.

The garden also features a giant replica of a navigational compass. 

Punalu'u Beach

Today we visited the beautiful black sand of Punalu'u Beach on the south coast of Hawaii.  It is a gorgeous beach with a wonderful energy.  Today was a very windy day -- not great for sitting on the beach, but fine for walking around.

As we walked to the beach, we passed 4 nene geese (the state bird of Hawaii).  They were just hanging out adjacent to our path to the beach.  We could easily get within 6 or 10 feet of them without startling them.

On the beach, I found 3 Hawaiian green sea turtles sleeping at the edge of the water, and a smaller one was swimming around in the water behind them.

This is a lovely place with great family memories for us.

Not any groundhogs here, but Happy Groundhog's Day!

Swimming with the fishes

Finally, we went snorkeling. We went early to avoid crowds.  The current wasn't too strong, so we could cover a lot of territory.  Didn't see the diversity or the number of fish as previously, but it was nice to re-connect with some lovely, colorful fellow swimmers.

I even found several cleaning stations.  Most often, convict surgeonfish (manini) were soliciting cleaning from Hawaiian cleaner wrasse (yellow head with magenta tail end).

Fish posture and/or turn dark to solicit cleaning.  This cleaner appears to be a subadult saddle wrasse.

I also spotted a longnose butterflyfish (lau wiliwili nukunuku 'oi'oi), often my photographic nemesis.

The orangespine unicornfish (umaumalei) is always nice to encounter.

Beach day

Hawaiian beaches are quite varied in appearance.  Some are covered by lovely white, black, or green sand.  Others are a motley combination of broken-down coral and lava rock.   But it's the tropics and beaches draw big crowds when the weather is nice.

We visited a favorite beach today, north of the marina.  Part of the park property is a nature preserve for the endangered Hawaiian stilt.  And we found two stilts at one of the ponds.

While people with soft feet (tourists) need stiff soles to navigate over the lava rock, locals walk barefoot on it.

Surfers always seem hopeful of having a primo experience.

Aloha for another day.